Dec 28, 2011 12:18 PM

Let’s face it, we live in a world today thatis OBSESSED and consumed by RESULTS. Never before in human history have our results been so micro-focused onand made so public so quickly. With cell phone cameras, mobile Internetaccess, You Tube, Facebook, Twitter and other rapidly emerging technologiespeople’s actions are recorded, publicized and robustly judged within a matterof mere minutes of an event…worldwide. WOW, talk about pressure!

If you are a fastpitch softball player atthe high school or travel level it is likely that your coach reports gamestatistics on MaxPreps.com or Game Changer, so the whole world can see yourindividual RESULTS, even college coaches. Softball, like baseball, has become agame driven by obscure statistics measuring things like On Base %, WHIP (walks+ hits/inning pitched), RISP Average, Strikeout to Walk Ratio, Fielding %, ERA,Slugging %, Quality AB Ratio, and a few dozen more obscure ones.

Over and above the keeping of statistics in fastpitchsoftball is the moment by moment scrutiny of players’ performances by theircoaches and parents. Fastpitch softball is a game of individual battles within the teamgame. As a result each player will be judged on her individual performance overand above whatever her team does that day. As we cover elsewhere in this book, a fastpitch softball player may have6-10 plays per game that she will be judged on as good or bad, as a success or failure (more if your athlete is a pitcher). A coach, parent orplayer will absolutely keep score of the performance that day guaranteed.

With this much scrutiny and pressure the KEY for yourathlete’s developing a healthy and successful approach to playing the game ofsoftball is in SHIFTING of her focus AWAY from the RESULTS or outcomes of herperformance and, rather, focus on the PROCESS or effort involved in the eventor action. This is perhaps the singlemost important factor in producing confident, successful, happy athletes.

LET ME REPEAT THAT…focusing on an athlete’s RESULTS onlyis not only a bad idea, it’s a confidence killer that will do more to harm anathlete’s potential to become a consistent, peak performer and her love for thegame that any other single factor!

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